


I Hope There's Still a Chance To Tell The Truth

by Krasimer



Series: Khdo Doo Zrxqgv dqg Qhyhu Edfn Grzq [7]
Category: Gravity Falls
Genre: Brothers, Ford's first appearance, Gen, Grunkle Ford Has Issues, Grunkle Ford Is A Jerk, Sad Grunkle Stan
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-05-31
Updated: 2016-05-31
Packaged: 2018-07-11 08:22:49
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 895
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7040629
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Krasimer/pseuds/Krasimer
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>He really should have known that Ford wouldn't forgive him.</p>
            </blockquote>





	I Hope There's Still a Chance To Tell The Truth

There's a dragging sensation, a sort of stomach-lurching tug of 'Elsewhere' that calls to him, drags at him until he has no choice but to follow it.

Thirty years in enemy territory and following bizarre rules that keep him alive in one place but doom him in another- Trying to understand the languages and the customs and the culture and everything that is absolutely necessary to keep him alive has left him permanently exhausted. Ford Pines is not so much a person as a collection of instructions and scars, a collective of knowledge that makes him twitchy when it comes to a perfectly safe situation.

So of course, being pulled quickly and unexpectedly out of the world he's wandering in leaves him off balance.

When he stands up, balances himself and stands up, he sees a dark room, lit only by the portal he just came out of. If he could-

Wait.

Portal he just came out of.

He pulls off his mask and scarf, glaring into the gloom. There's only one reason he'd be back here, and that's...

A glance towards the back of the room reveals a man who looks familiar, despite the aged looks and grey hair. The last time he saw that face, the man had refused to wear his glasses and had longer hair, and he'd been shoved through the portal. He steps forward before he knows what he's doing, arms tense at his side.

As if despite the thirty years that have passed, he's trying to pick up where they left, his fist swings at his brother's face as he ignores what the man was saying. 

The next thing he knows, he's yelling and there's anger and-

There are children in the room.

There is a girl and a boy and some sort of strange creature he supposes must be important. The girl is all smiles and questions and she reminds him so much of Stan that it almost breaks his heart when he realizes that they're twins. He had thought that they were a year or so apart in age, but they are the same height and they have the same face.

The boy shrieks when he realizes that Ford is the author of the journals and that makes his heart sink even further in his chest because that means that there's an analogue of both of them, a similar being who holds the same interests.

It makes him uncomfortable, to say the least.

And there are government officials looking for the entire group of them and the boy is resourceful and has something Ford never thought he'd see again.

Stan has, as with every other aspect of his life, messed this up too.

 

XxXxX

 

The sight of his brother is the best thing he's ever seen.

The fist that follows isn't as good, but at least it's a sign that this isn't a dream. Thirty years of work has paid off, and Stan wouldn't trade it for anything. Ford is back, Ford is home, he can take his life back, and Stan-

Stan is technically dead.

His heart sinks, the clench in his throat making him unable to breathe. The shack is his life now, and Ford...Ford doesn't want it to exist. His face hot and unashamed as Ford snarls at him once the kids are out of the room, he throws out a warning to stay away from the twins. Maybe he should have held his anger better, but thirty years has done nothing to temper him when it comes to fighting with his brother.

At least, this time, there's no portal for him to be pushed through.

"Did you really think I would thank you for this?" Ford's voice is almost too loud, almost audible up in the upstairs where the twins are. "Stanley, you could have destroyed the world!"

He almost says it was worth it, almost admits how much he had missed him.

Damn the world for the sake of the one person who saw worth in him when they were kids. (Their mother did too, but he had a feeling he'd disappointed her, so so much.)

"What do you want, for me to apologize?"

"An apology does nothing, Stanley!"

He rolls his eyes, throws his hands into the air. "Fine! Y'know what, I'm gonna go outside and not be in here for a while, it seems like the air hasn't gotten any less thick with Ford Pride about being always right since we were kids."

He storms out of the room and ignores his jacket on the rack by the door.

(He has spent decades living in the fading memory of his brother's life. It shouldn't surprise him that this is the way they talk to each other now, like the portal never separated them and stopped their argument. All it did was give Ford more things to yell at him about.)

The only thing that keeps him on the porch instead of driving away is the thought of Mabel and Dipper waking up to find him gone. They're kids, and maybe they aren't that fond of him, but he'd rather be force-fed his own hat than upset either of them.

The couch creaks when he sits down on it, but that's fine. He has slept in and on worse, and for the moment, it's just as good as anywhere else.

**Author's Note:**

> ...I am trying to update everything I have ever written that is an ongoing series. I got sucked in by full-time college, and I sadly let a lot of things lapse.


End file.
